Council Member: Their Slogan Suggested Hashemi’s Death Was Our Doing

A member of the Assembly of Experts stated that at a recent gathering in Qom, it was effectively said “what happened to Hashemi, we did it.” Meanwhile, several Revolutionary Guards commanders met with Makarem Shirazi and considered the presence of their members at the Qom gathering as an act to “destroy” the Guards.

Ayatollah Hashem Bathaei, a member of Iran’s Supreme Leader’s Assembly of Experts, on Tuesday (June 30/August 21) responding to the slogan “O you whose motto is negotiation / Feiz Pool awaits you” at Thursday’s gathering of seminary students in Qom, said: “The recent gathering was regrettable that they would come and chant such a slogan. In reality, that slogan means that an unwanted group accepts that if the president or someone else does something, they would face the fate of Feiz Pool.”

According to Khabar Online, this Assembly member continued: “In other words, the meaning of this slogan is to indirectly say that what happened to Mr. Hashemi, we did it, and if others act against our wishes, they would face that fate. Therefore, all sources and great scholars of the seminary, like Ayatollah Makarem, condemn this action.”

Hashem Bathaei then, while confirming “the holding of gatherings in support of the Supreme Leader, officials approved by him and the system’s policies,” emphasized the observance of “red lines” and in opposition to “destructive gatherings” said: “Destructive gatherings against the country’s officials are contrary to the policy of the Islamic Republic and actually amount to pouring water on the enemy’s mill.”

Simultaneously and in the same direction, several commanders of the Revolutionary Guards visited Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi and in person denied news about the presence of some members of this military organization at the recent gathering of Qom seminary students. The Revolutionary Guards had denied its involvement in the Qom gathering in a statement the previous day and condemned “some slogans, handwritten notes and placards” of the gathering.

Participants in the recent gathering at Feiz School in Qom announced the attendees as “scholars, professors and students” and its subject as “demanding economic justice.” The slogans and placards of this gathering were accompanied by much controversy. Some of these slogans were related to opposition to the Rouhani administration and its solutions for resolving the country’s problems through negotiation. On one of the placards of said gathering, with an obvious innuendo to how Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died, it was written that “Feiz Pool” awaits supporters of negotiations.

This slogan and the news of the presence of some Revolutionary Guards members at the gathering faced many reactions. Among them, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, one of the Shia sources of emulation, was one of those who called this controversial gathering a “disaster” and demanded clarification from the leaders of the seminary and the Revolutionary Guards.

An Act of “Destroying the Sacred Institution of the Guards”

The Supreme Leader’s Representative in the Revolutionary Guards of Qom province, the commander of Imam Sadiq Brigade and several commanders of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Guards, among officials in the Guards, were among those who visited Makarem Shirazi today. According to Mashriq, Hassan Akbari in this meeting, regarding photos that suggested the participation of Guards members in the Qom gathering, stated that these images “belonged to another ceremony.” The Supreme Leader’s Representative in the Revolutionary Guards of Qom province evaluated the publication of these photos in some media as “an unwise act in the direction of destroying the sacred institution of the Guards.”

Hussein Taibifar, commander of Imam Sadiq Brigade, in explaining the recent Qom gathering, said: “Given my emphasis, placards contrary to the Supreme Leader’s statements were collected and necessary preventive measures were taken to prevent unpleasant incidents.”

Qom Guards commanders at the end of this meeting also presented a letter from Gholamreza Ahmadi, commander of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Guards, to Makarem Shirazi. Ahmadi, referring to the fact that “images published in some media about the presence of Guards members in this program belonged to another ceremony,” wrote to this Shia source of emulation: “With a little investigation, it becomes clear that the aforementioned ceremony was held in the Hussainiyyah of Feiz School, but these images belong to a gathering in the school’s courtyard on a different date.”

Requesting Makarem’s Continued “Support” for the Guards

This Guards commander wrote: “Certainly this action was a move by spiteful elements in the direction of the Guards-phobic project and has no goal other than destroying these selfless soldiers of the sacred Islamic Republic system.” Gholamreza Ahmadi finally asked Makarem Shirazi to “in the current critical conditions” “as always support your revolutionary children in the Guards and thwart infiltrating elements and ill-wishers.”

Makarem Shirazi finally, after the Guards officials finished speaking, criticizing the “controversy-making” of some people through “placards with insulting and threatening content,” said: “We will soon announce that this matter had nothing to do with the Revolutionary Guards.”

The recent gathering of seminary students in Qom and its controversial placard revived the unclear manner of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s death as a topic of media and social networks. Fateme Hashemi, the daughter of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, in a note wrote: “This reinforces the doubts and ambiguities expressed by family members regarding my father’s suspicious death, which remains unanswered.” Ali Motahari, the second vice-speaker of the Iranian parliament, also referring to the possibility that the controversial slogan of seminary students in Qom could be “a clue” to how Hashemi Rafsanjani died, called for the matter to be pursued by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence.

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council, drowned in a pool on December 10, 2016 (December 19, 1395) at the Sa’dabad complex. Apparently, those who prepared the Qom gathering’s placard mistakenly identified the Sa’dabad complex pool, which was built after the revolution, as “Feiz Pool.”

The Islamic Republic newspaper, referring to widespread reactions to the said slogan in cyberspace, wrote: “Users seeing this slogan said that this, in addition to being a threat against the president, is a kind of confession to the activity of hands involved in the death of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani in the pool.”

Source: DW